Yacht Style – July 2019

CRAZY CONDITIONS BESET

F50 FOILERS IN NEW YORK

T

hat left Australia, Japan, China,

France and America to survive Day

One in crazy conditions, as wildly

oscillating winds on the Hudson

River varied from gale force to, astonishingly,

dead flat calms.

Funnelling across from the Jersey

shore, the erratic breezes bounced off city

highrises, near the Statue of Liberty, in every

conceivable direction, affording huge lifts and

equally horrible holes in which early leaders

became also-rans.

France was the second casualty, in Race

One, lurching alarmingly airborne within a

minute, but happily landing almost right-side-

up. Their boat was able to continue later.

Top contenders Japan and Australia had

some heart-stopping moments, and Aussie

skipper Tom Slingsby, who won the opener,

told interviewers: “We were always on

the edge of control. I have never sailed in

conditions like this”.

America finished a whopping 7 minutes

behind Australia, which reached a top speed

of 48.69 knots, and had an elapsed time of 13

minutes 55 seconds for the complete course.

US helm Rome Kirby had lost his critical

wing trimmer, and languished at the tail end

of the fleet until a preferred replacement

could be flown in for Day Two, but the

“Chinese” yacht, like the “Japanese” one

sporting an afterguard entirely of expat pro

sailors, did quite well in the initial stages,

improving on its performance in the first two

SailGP events in Sydney and San Francisco.

The day’s three races, described variously

by expert TV commentators as “insane” and

“ridiculous”, kept providing something akin

to a theme park big-dipper ride for the gamely

struggling crews.

In Race Two, Japan’s Aussie Olympic Gold

Medal and America’s Cup skipper Nathan

A reputed 37 knot gust wiped out Britain's F50 foiling cat

before racing in the third edition of the fledgling and newly

Rolex-sponsored SailGP series off Manhattan had even started.

WORDS BRUCE MAXWELL PHOTOS BOB MARTIN

Britain couldn’t compete on Day One, after sustaining headsail and hull damage in a pre-racing capsize

RACING SailGP New York